


Buried in Water

by The_Lord_of_Chaos



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Bullying, Child Neglect, Gen, Kid Fic, PhicPhight2020, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 06:41:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23846899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Lord_of_Chaos/pseuds/The_Lord_of_Chaos
Summary: Everyone's a bit younger when the Fenton's build their portal.  Danny helped!
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Jazz Fenton, Danny Fenton & Maddie Fenton, Danny Fenton & Tucker Foley
Comments: 13
Kudos: 106
Collections: Phic Phight!





	Buried in Water

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gottacatchghosts (octolingkiera)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/octolingkiera/gifts).



> Hey everyone. This is my third PicPhight story. It was written for gottacatchghosts (octolingkiera)'s prompt: Danny's parents complete the portal sooner than canon and he becomes half ghost at a Much Younger age.  
> Title comes from one of the songs in Dead Man's Bones which I listened to a bit much as I was doing my PhicPhight work.

“I can help!” Danny said.

“I know you can sweetie,” his mom said.“But we’re at a different stage now, and it’s just not good for you to be down there.”

“‘Cause of the ectoplasm?” Danny asked.

“We’re running a lot of power down there,” his mom said.“We’ll take a video of everything, Danny, I promise.”

“But you’re turning it on today,” Danny said.“I don’t want to miss it.I helped.”

His mom put his bowl of cheerios down in front of him and hugged him from behind.

“Young man, you are going to be at school when we turn the portal on,” his mom said.“Your father and I had a friend in College we worked with, did I ever tell you?We thought we’d all explore the ghost zone together some day and capture those nasty ghosts.”

“Molecule by molecule,” Danny said around the spoon of cheerios in his mouth.

“That’s right,” his mom said returning to the counter where she poured herself some coffee.“But our friend was hurt in an accident the last time we tried this, he was hurt very badly, and I’m afraid we never saw him again.So you and Jazmine are not going to be in the house when we turn it on, okay? That’s non-negotiable.”

Danny frowned at his cheerios as thoughts he wasn’t used to popped up in his head.

“Does that mean you could get hurt badly?” Danny asked.“And then I’d never see you again.”

“No, sweetie, your father and I will be fine, I just don’t want to take any chances with you.”

“But that’s why I should be there,” Danny said.“I could help make sure everything’s good.”His mom plucked the spoon out of his hand.He got pretty animated when he got excited and this wasn’t the first time he’d forgotten what he had in his hands.

“Don’t argue with Mom,” Bossy Jazzy said.“I can’t believe you want to miss your first day at a new school so you can watch another ghost invention fail.Finally a school where no one knows our parents are ‘ghost hunters.’”

“Jazmine!” His mom scolded.

“Whatever,” Jazzy said, and turned to Danny.“Just don’t embarrass me.”

“You’re embarrassing,” Danny countered.

“Neither of you are embarrassing,” his mom said, setting a bagel in front of Jazzy.

Danny wasn’t sure about school.Past experience left him dubious, but with his new haircut, and his new clothes, maybe things would be different at a school where no one knew he used to have a different name.Also, when they’d gone to visit his new classroom yesterday, Mrs. Sandoval had had dioramas of the solar system and space in the classroom.Fourth graders got a whole section on astronomy and Danny couldn’t wait.He’d get everything right, and maybe Mrs. Sandoval would want his help, since Danny knew so much about space.

“Mom!” Jazzy exclaimed.“This bagel is green.And it isn’t mold.”

“Oh, I’m sorry sweetie,” His mom said.“Here, the muffins haven’t been anywhere near the refrigerator.”

“What’s it green with?” Danny asked innocently.

Jazzy sent him a glare.“The green stuff Mom and Dad make up downstairs.”

“You mean ectoplasm?” Danny asked.

“I’ll make you into ectoplasm,” Jazzy threatened.

“Okay,” His mom said, putting a stop to things.“The school bus is almost here, come give me a hug.Jazz, you’ll have to take the muffin to go.”

Danny hopped off his chair and grabbed his new backpack and ran over to give her a hug.

“Make sure he gets on the bus alright,” his mom told Jazzy.

“I’m not a baby,” Danny said.“I’m nine.I don’t need Jazzy to make sure I get on the bus.”

“I know sweetie, have a good day at school you two,” His mom said.

“I will,” Danny said.It could be true.

“Uh huh,” Jazzy said.

They walked down the block together to the bus stop. 

“They’re just pretending to let you help,” Jazzy said.

“Nuh uh,” Danny said.“I have a good eye for detail.”

That’s what his mom said.

“And I put stuff together, and I can solder.”

“Ssssolder,” Jazzy said.

“That’s what I said,” Danny said.

“No, you said tholder,” Jazzy said. 

Had he? He’d been getting better.He wasn’t going to be seeing his speech therapist again.

“Nuh uh,” Danny said.

Jazzy sighed and stopped walking.Danny stopped too, tempted to keep walking but not wanting to get to the bus stop alone.

“This is a fresh start for the both of us,” Jazzy said.

“I’m not going to embarrass you,” Danny said.

“Oh, half of everyone in the sixth grade has an embarrassing little brother,” Jazzy said.“I’m talking about you having a chance.”

“No one knows here,” Danny said, tugging on his shirt, which had come from the boys section.

“That’s not what I meant,” Jazzy said.“Do you know why everyone at school knew our parents were ghost hunters?Because I used to be just like you and I told everyone about it because I was the only one who didn’t get how stupid it was.I guess the deck was stacked against you by the time you got there.”

“I’m not embarrassed about Mommy and Daddy,” Danny said.It wasn’t like he was going to have friends anyway.

“Mom and Dad,” Jazzy corrected.She continued walking.“You should go out and play with friends; not stick around in the basement with Mom and Dad.At the very least, wouldn’t it be nice if no one ever stuck your head in a toilet again.”

Danny slapped his hands on top of his head, and didn’t say anything, angry that Jazzy had brought that up, and worried that things could be just the same.There were other kids at the school bus stop.

“Hey, you must be new,” a boy a bit taller than Danny said. 

“Yeah,” Danny said.“We just moved here over the break.”

“Wow, that’s a cool watch,” the boy said, suddenly grabbing Danny’s wrist.“Does it do anything cool?”

“It shows the phases of the moon,” Danny said, carefully.It also had a ghost detector built in.

“Neat,” the boy said.“Mine’s a calculator, see?”He held his own wrist very close to Danny’s face.“My name’s Tucker by the way, what grade are you?”

“Fourth,” Danny said.“Um, I’m Danny.”

“Me too,” Tucker said.“Who’s your teacher?”

“Mrs. Sandoval,” Danny said.

“Same here,” Tucker said.“I can show you around.”

“Thanks,” Danny said. 

Tucker seemed nice.Maybe Jazzy had a point.

“What do your parents do?” Danny asked.

“Oh, it’s cool, my mom’s a programer at Dalv Co, she’s working on the new processor,” Tucker said. 

“Oh neat,” Danny said.“My mommm and dad.” He’d almost said mommy and daddy. “They do programming for their inventions.”

“Wow cool,” Tucker said.“What do they invent?”

Danny’s stomach flipped for a moment.“Um, phone stuff.”

“Cool! Oh, have you seen the new Samsung?”

“Yeah,” Danny said, his stomach flipping and guilt creeping in.

Tucker started waxing poetic about the new tech and this continued for a while past when they got on the bus.

“But my dad says I can’t get a smartphone until middle school.”

“What does he do?” Danny asked, happy to let the other boy talk.There was less of a chance that Danny would mess things up that way.

“Oh, my dad’s some sort of machinist at Honeybee.”

Danny gasped.“Honeybee Robotics?That’s here?” he asked.

“Yeah?” Tucker said.

“The Honeybee Robotics?” Danny asked.

“I didn’t realize there was a _the_ Honeybee Robotics,” Tucker said looking surprised.

“They made parts for the Curiosity Rover,” Danny said excitedly.“Did your dad work on Curiosity? Do they do tours?”

“I dunno,” Tucker said.“He just machines parts.”

“That’s so cool though,” Danny said.“Your dad could have touched something that’s on Mars right now.Oh man, did you know that Curiosity doesn’t even use solar panels? It’s nuclear powered.” 

From there, Danny was off.He talked about water on Mars, and how there’d be colonies there some day and then he got into physics and he was talking about Stephen Hawking.

“Pfft, nerd alert,” someone said, and then that someone put Danny in a headlock.

“Hey,” Danny said.“Quit it.”

He was roughly pulled out of his seat.

“Hey, come on Dash, he’s new to the area,” Tucker said.

“New kid huh?” Dash said.“I guess he doesn’t know the rules.Nerds don’t get to bother everyone else on the bus.Gotta teach you a lesson.”A rough knuckled fist came up to scrape against his scalp.

“What do you think you’re doing you little creep?”It was Jazzy.

“What’s it to you?”

“That’s my little brother,” Jazzy said.

“He’s a nerd!”

“Yeah? And you’ve got an inferiority complex, so let him go before I make it worse,” Jazzy said.

Danny was roughly shoved back into his seat.

“Since you’re new I’ll let you off with a warning,” Dash said.

Danny flashed his sister a shaky but grateful smile but she’d already turned back to her own seat.

“You okay?” Tucker asked.He was keeping his voice low, probably to keep from bothering Dash.

Danny nodded his head.“Sorry about that,” he said.He’d let Jazzy’s talk of a new start get to his head.Just because he didn’t have classes with Justin Danzig anymore didn’t mean he didn’t have to look out for bullies.He hoped he hadn’t just chased Tucker away.

“Dash is like that,” Tucker said.“I could ask my dad about the Mars thing.”

That got Danny’s attention.“Could you?”

“Sure,” Tucker said.“So tell me more about what your parents do.”

Danny swallowed thickly, not used to making up lies about his parents.“Well, they’re working on a new application of trans-induction coils using carbon nano-tubes,” Danny said.Technically true.“For a stronger signal,” he said.A lie.And why was he even lying?The Fenton Phone was a thing.It used the resonant properties of ectoplasm, but ‘normal’ people didn’t talk about ectoplasm.

“I don’t know what that means, so I’m definitely looking that up when I get home,” Tucker said. 

Tucker was definitely the sort of kid who Danny wanted to be friends with.None of the kids in his old class would have been interested at all.Of course he was lying to him now.

“Consol or PC?” Tucker asked.

“PC,” Danny said.“I made mine with my mom last summer.”

“That’s so cool,” Tucker said.“Can’t have my own computer yet either.What are you playing on it?”

He hadn’t been playing on it lately.Everything had gotten hectic with the portal being so close to being done.He hadn’t even opened his latest game.

“I’ve got Mecha Strike 3,” Danny said.

“Oh, I’m so jealous,” Tucker said.“I’m still saving up for that one.Wasted all my allowance on a new controller that Sir Barksalot chewed to pieces.”

Danny gasped.“You have a dog?”His dad was very allergic.It was the greatest tragedy of his childhood.

“A basset hound,” Tucker said.

Danny gasped again, louder.“With the ears!With the floppy ears.” He gestured wildly with his hands at the side of his head.

“Yeah,” Tucker said.He pulled out a flip phone and showed Danny a picture.

Danny died inside.

“You could come over and meet him if you want,” Tucker said.

Danny was about to say yes when he came back to reality.The portal was coming online that day.It would be on when he got home, but what if Tucker got offended if Danny said he couldn’t come over.

“I have to check in on this thing at home after school,” Danny said.“But you could come over and play video games.”

“Could I really?” Tucker asked.

No, no he couldn’t, because Danny had told him his parents worked on cellphones.

“Of course,” Danny said. 

“Great,” Tucker said.“Shouldn’t be any homework on the first day.”

Danny nodded.Maybe he could just avoid Tucker meeting his parents.

They got to school and Jazzy broke off to go to her sixth grade class and Danny let Tucker show him around, even though he’d already walked around the evening prior.

“That’s Ms. Reynolds,” Tucker said.“She can sniff out contraband.”

“What sort of contraband?” Danny asked.

“She saw the outline of my Switch through my backpack and nabbed it before I even got through the doors,” Tucker said. “I didn’t get it back for a week!”

Mrs. Sandoval was nice and she asked everyone to go around and say what they’d done over the summer.Tucker had gone on vacation with his family to Disneyland, some of the kids had gone to other countries over the break, and Danny had helped build a portal to the Ghost Zone.

“My family moved here from Pittsburgh,” Danny said.“I guess the move took up a lot of the summer.”

“How do you like Amity Park, Danny?” Mrs. Sandoval asked.

It was a new start.“I really liked the observatory outside of town,” Danny said.

Another kid had participated in a karate competition.

Amity Park was a new start, but it wasn’t all that different.Dash caught him on the way to lunch and shoved him into a trashcan.This was something that had happened at his old school.Still though, no one knew.

Danny went through the day, somewhat anxious about what was happening at home, and what would happen when Tucker met his parents.They did quizzes to see how much they remembered from before the Summer, and Danny breezed through math and struggled with spelling and did generally alright on the rest.Mrs. Sandoval had said it wasn’t going to be graded so Danny didn’t worry about it.When it came time for arts and crafts, Danny’s hand shot up when Mrs. Sandoval asked who wanted to pass out supplies.Danny used watercolors to paint Saturn.It wasn’t very good, but Danny beamed when the teacher came around and told him he’d done a good job. 

“I am going to kick your butt on Mecha Strike,” Tucker said as they walked out of the school together.

Tucker hadn’t decided that Danny was a looser yet.

“Tucker’s coming over to play video games,” Danny said when they met up with Jazzy at the bus stop. 

Her eyes widened in surprise, but all she said was, “whatever, don’t leave the volume up.”

Tucker wanted to quiz him about what his parents did with cellphones on the ride back, so Danny made some stuff up and changed the subject to tell Tucker about the model rocket he was making.

“How high’s it going to go?” Tucker asked.

“A thousand feet, at least,” Danny said.Unless his dad had anything to say about it, in which case it was either going to explode or make it to the stratosphere, there was no in between. 

Danny got more and more nervous as they got closer to home.How on Earth was he going to keep anything a secret?Either Tucker was going to realize Danny had lied about what his parents did, or his parents would realize he’d been too embarrassed to tell him what they really did, or worse, both.

“You know,” Danny said.“Things at home can wait.Maybe we can go see Sir Barksalot.”

“Oh, nuh uh,” Tucker said.“You got me all excited for video games.You can come over tomorrow.”

“Oh, right,” Danny said.Tucker probably wouldn’t want him to come over tomorrow by the end of the day.

They pulled up to their stop.Danny felt like he was going to his execution walking down the aisle to get off the bus, it was like how he felt last year, every time he had to go to school. 

Jazz walked some feet in front of him when they started walking home, but let Danny and Tucker catch up when they got further from the bus stop.

“How’d it go?” Jazzy asked.

Danny thought the fact that he was bringing a friend home should have been answer enough.“I like my teacher.”

“You’re not supposed to say that Danny,” Jazzy said.

Tucker guffawed.

“Did that creep bother you again?” Jazzy asked.

“Not really,” Danny said, and hoped that Tucker wouldn’t say anything about the trashcan. 

He didn’t.Tucker was cool.

The house was still standing, which was a good sign.

“Fentonworks?” Tucker asked.“Do your parents have their own company?”

“Oh, uh, yeah, they do consulting with, um, the cellphone companies,” Danny said.

He wasn’t sure what Jazzy’s reaction to that was, because he was looking at Tucker. 

“That’s cool,” Tucker said. 

They were there.Jazzy opened the door and they went in.

It was a habit.It was what he always did when he got home from school.

“I’m home mommy,” Danny shouted into the house.

Tucker snickered and Danny blushed.No one in the house responded.

“Typical,” Jazzy said.

The light was on over the door to the basement, neither of their parents were there to see how their first day had gone, which was best.Maybe they’d stay in the basement all evening.Danny really wanted to see the portal though.

“Well, I’ve got homework,” Jazzy said.“Don’t be loud.”

“They gave you homework on the first day?” Tucker exclaimed.

“She gives herself homework,” Danny said.

Tucker laughed like he’d made a joke.Danny took Tucker up to his room.He almost had a mini heart attack the moment he opened his door, suddenly sure that something incriminating would be left lying about for Tucker to see, but of course, none of that stuff had made the move.

“Just a sec,” Danny said.He raced back down stairs to Jazzy.

“What do I do?” Danny asked.

“Uh, play video games?” Jazzy said.

“Yeah, but do I make him snacks or anything?” Danny asked.

“This isn’t complicated Danny.”

“I’ve never had a friend over before,” Danny whisper shouted.

“Just grab some soda and chips,” Jazzy said.“I won’t tell.”

Danny nodded.He was only supposed to have soda for special occasions, but having a friend over must be a special occasion.Danny grabbed some hot Cheetos and some Fanta from the fridge and ran back upstairs. 

“Cheetos!” Tucker said, grabbing the bag before gesturing towards Danny’s desk.“You’ve got a cool setup.”

“Wanna see inside?” Danny asked, and cringed when he heard the lisp in his words.

“Heck yeah,” Tucker said, completely ignoring it.

Danny popped off the side panel and started showing off the parts.

“What the heck is that?” Tucker asked. 

“Uh, just something my Dad made,” Danny said.

“It looks like it’s where the heat sink should be,” Tucker said.

“Yep,” Danny agreed.Some types of ectoplasm had cooling properties.He pointed away from it.“That’s an XZ200 graphics card.”

“Oh snap,” Tucker said.“This is nice.When we get to middle school you’ll have to give me some advice when I can finally get my own.”

“Sure!” Danny said.Middle school was ages away, and Tucker still wanted to be friends then. 

How was Danny going to keep ghost hunting a secret until then?

“Let’s play,” Danny said.

The game was new to both of them, though they’d both played Mecha Strike 2. 

“There’s no lag at all,” Tucker said.Danny grinned and destroyed Tucker’s avatar. 

He forgot to look at the clock.He forgot he was keeping secrets.

“Danny? Oh-“ It was his mom.“You have a friend over.”

Danny spun around to face the door, where his mom was standing in her baby blue hazmat suit.

“Hey,” Danny said.“Um, yeah, Tucker’s a friend.”

His mom turned to Tucker.“Sweetie, does your mom know you’re here?”

“I called her over lunch,” Tucker said.

“She didn’t want to talk to me when you got here?” His mom asked.

“Uhhhh,” Tucker took out his flip phone.“It’s been on silent.”He made a call.Someone on the other end did not sound happy.

“Mom, mom- I forgot.-It was on silent.-Well really that’s the school’s fault.-No, there’s no homework,” he looked up at Danny’s mom.“Uh, she wants to talk to you.”He handed her the phone. 

“Hi, this is Maddie Fenton,” she said.

“No, he’s been no trouble at all.Actually, I just found out he was here,” she gave Danny a bit of a look.

“Let’s see,” she pulled the phone away for a moment and asked them, “do you boys have any homework?”

Danny shook his head. 

“No ma’am,” Tucker said.

His mom went back to the phone.“Well it is their first day of classes,” she said.“I was just ordering pizza, he’s welcome to stay for dinner.”

Crud.Crud, crud, crud.Why had he lied.He thought they’d be done before his parents ever got out of the lab.

“Sure,” His mom said.“Its 212 555 4329. -It’s no trouble at all.”

She handed the phone back to tucker.

“See you mom,” Tucker said, and then. “A week?! -Yeah, yeah, I love you too.”

He hung up the phone.

“What sort of toppings do you like?” His mom asked.

“All meat pizza?” Tucker asked.

“I have a feeling you’ll get along just fine with Danny’s father,” his mom said.“Pizza should be here in half an hour.”

“Cool,” Danny said.

His mom left and with a quick, “just a sec,” Danny dashed out of the room.

“What happened with the portal, Mommy?” Danny asked.

She sighed.“It wouldn’t turn on,” she said.“We’ll figure it out though.”

“I can help,” Danny said.

“Later,” his mom said.“I don’t want you down there for a bit.Okay?We have a few more things to try but if it doesn’t work we’ll drain the capacitors and move the high energy ectoplasm to storage.You’ll be back down there by Wednesday.”

“Fine,” Danny said mulishly, beginning to worry that Jazzy was right, and he wasn’t as helpful as Mommy always said.

Danny went back to his room.

“Are you in trouble?” Tucker asked.

“Nope,” Danny said.“What’d you lose for a week?”

“My Switch,” Tucker said. "Again."

“Oh man, I’m sorry,” Danny said.

“I’ll just have to get all of my video gaming in tonight,” Tucker said.They started the game back up.

A few times, Danny tried to bring up the fact that his parents were ghost researchers with Tucker.There was no way Tucker wouldn’t find out over dinner.Danny kept imagining his mom realizing that he had lied, that he had been embarrassed of them.Every time he opened his mouth to say something though, he could also imagine Tucker laughing.He could imagine Tucker making fun of him.He could imagine Tucker telling people at school.Danny started feeling sick to his stomach and when it was time to go down stairs he held no excitement whatsoever for the Pizza.His parents and sister were already down at the counter surrounding the pizza boxes.

“Danno!” his dad greeted him when they got down stairs.“And you must be the little man I’m sharing this pizza with.”

“Pizza is just a delivery mechanism for meat,” Tucker said.

“That’s the spirit!Are you boys having a sleep over?”

“That’s a wonderful idea,” his mom said.

“Um-“ was all Danny could muster up.

“Is that cool?” Tucker asked.

“Yes,” Danny answered.

“Let’s run that by your parents though,” his mom said.“Now make sure you put your plates in the dishwasher, we’re going to be in the lab.”

“You’ve got a lab here?” Tucker asked.

Danny’s stomach, which had relaxed the moment his mom had said they’d be in the lab clenched again as the opportunity arose for his parents to start talking about their work.

“Just down in the basement,” his mom said. 

“Danny was telling me about your project with carbon nanotubes,” Tucker said.

Danny looked to Jazzy, as if she could somehow derail the course of the conversation.

“The nanotubes!” his dad exclaimed.“Madds, I have an idea.”With that he scooped up most of the Meat Supreme Pizza (with extra sausage) and dashed for the stairs.

“That man,” his mom said fondly.“Alright, you all behave, listen to Jazz, and call your mom Tucker.”

“Yes ma’am,” Tucker said.“Good luck with your project.”

“We’ll get those ghosts,” his mom said.

Danny died on the spot.

“Ghosts in the machine?” Tucker asked.

“Oh, I hope not,” his mom said, and with that, she took her own plate and went down stairs.

“It must be so cool to have your parents inventing stuff in your basement,” Tucker said.

Danny was still rebooting.

“Were you going to call your mom?” Jazzy asked, having found something she could be in charge about.

“Oh yeah,” Tucker said.He shoved half a slice of pizza into his face and then went to the living room to call his mom.

Danny sat down at the table, slumping forward so his forehead rested on the surface. 

“Why’d you tell me to lie to him?” Danny asked.

“Well I didn’t think you’d be having friends over or anything,” Jazzy said.“Don’t make this out to be my fault.”

Danny could hear the word ‘please’ being used repeatedly in the next room.

“It’ll be nice having a friend while it lasts,” Danny said.

“Who knows,” Jazzy said.“Maybe once they realize that the ‘portal’ doesn’t work they’ll decide to change careers.”

Danny didn’t want them to fail though.He didn’t want them to be wrong.He wanted it to work.He wanted it to work and he wanted it to be because he had helped.

“You okay dude?” Tucker asked coming back into the room.He went straight back to his pizza.

“Yeah,” Danny said.“What’d your mom say?”

“We are good to go,” Tucker said.“But she’s going to call your mom to make sure we’re in bed on time.”

Jazzy snorted into her milk. 

“What?” Tucker asked.

“They don’t usually remember bedtimes,” Jazzy said.

“Sweet,” Tucker said.“We can play video games all night.”

“You better not make noise,” Jazzy said.

Their rooms were right next to one another.

“So what do you normally do for sleepovers?” Tucker asked.

Danny shot a look at Jazzy, who shrugged.“Um,” Danny said.“I’ve got a lego set my Aunt sent me for my birthday,” Danny said.

He might have suggested a movie, but he wanted them as far away from his parents as possible.Once all of the Pizza was gone, they went back to Danny’s room and Danny pulled out-

“BB-8!” Tucker exclaimed. 

Danny grinned.He’d been excited himself when he’d gotten it, but with the move and his parents making the final push to get the portal working, Danny had never had the time.

“Life size,” Danny boasted.

There was an odd joy to dumping a large quantity of legos out onto the floor.An odd joy to the thought that he might have gotten away with his fib.An odd joy to having a friend over in his room like Danny was normal.

“Okay,” Tucker said.“Who would win in a fight? Boba Fett or Batman?”

“Batman,” Danny said, indignant that that was even a question.He looked up though, to see if Tucker was put off by his outburst.He wasn’t though.

“I think Fett could have a chance,” Tucker said.“He isn’t like any of the Arkham villains, he won’t monologue, he’ll just shoot.Do you go with the instructions or do you like to live dangerously?”

Danny always used the instructions, it’s why the house hadn’t blown up, but he thought he knew what the answer was.

“We can figure it out,” Danny said.

Danny got to talk about a lot of things with Tucker that his parents didn’t understand or his sister didn’t have the patience for.They talked about comic books, and sci-fi, and Danny showed off the drawing he’d made of the space ship he wanted to fly in some day.A few times his hands got away from him in his excitement and some lego pieces had to be tracked down.Every now and then a twinge of guilt would work at him.

A few times Jazzy dropped by to tell them to keep it down, and then she came by to tell them that their parents had gone to bed.Danny checked the clock.It was past ten.If they’d gone to bed, that meant that the portal hadn’t worked and they didn’t have any more ideas past looking at it with fresh eyes in the morning. 

“Time to get the sleeping bags,” Danny said.

“Can we go look at your parents lab?” Tucker asked.

Danny froze.

“It’s got to be super cool down there,” Tucker said.

“Oh, it’s just some work benches and some soldering stuff,” Danny said, feeling all of the rottenness of his lie coming back.

“Yeah, but that’s cool,” Tucker said.

“Tucker,” Danny said.“Um, it’s sort of dangerous down there, I’m not even allowed.”

“We won’t touch anything,” Tucker said.“Or is it like top secret or something?I won’t tell a soul.Wouldn’t it be cool if they’ve got a prototype of something that’s going to be part of the Spring lineup?”

“Um,” Danny said.There was never going to be any Fenton tech for Tucker to see in any store.There weren’t going to be commercials touting the Fenton Phone.Tucker was going to find out anyway and then he was going to think Danny was a liar with weird parents.

“Please,” Tucker said.“It’ll help me sleep.Otherwise I’ll spend all night wondering what’s down there.”

Danny didn’t know how to say no without explaining why.

“Okay,” Danny said. 

“Sweet,” Tucker said and Danny followed him out of the room.

The door was locked but Danny knew the code.

“So cool,” Tucker said as the blast style door slid open, and then he was rushing down.

“Wait,” Danny said.“Tucker, I…”

“Wow!” Tucker exclaimed.“Oh my gosh, what is all this.”

“Don’t touch anything,” Danny called down, rushing after him.

“Dude,” Tucker said when Danny got down the stairs.He was staring around him a bit in awe.“Cell phones?”He gasped.“I was right, it’s Top Secret isn’t it?”

“Tucker,” Danny said, wringing his hands together.He noticed the moment Tucker saw the portal, all the way in the back of the lab.

“What is that?!”Tucker exclaimed.“Is that stuff glowing? Is it radioactive?”

He was rushing towards it like the word radioactive hadn’t just come out of his mouth.

“Wait!” Danny exclaimed.He caught up to Tucker next to the portal. 

“Danny what is this stuff?” Tucker asked.

“It’s an experiment,” Danny said.

“Yeah, dude, but for what?” Tucker asked.

Danny bit his lip.He didn’t know what to say.He didn’t know what to do.Tucker was just going to think what everyone else did.He’d liked having a friend. 

“Are you crying?” Tucker asked awkwardly.

Danny shook his head, and swiped at his eyes.What was the point of denying it?

“My Mommy’s an ecto-biologist, and my Daddy’s an ecto-physiscist,” Danny said.“They study ghosts.”Telling the truth didn’t make him feel any better.

“Ghosts?” Tucker asked.

Danny nodded.

“But, like, for real?”

Danny nodded.

“But…”

“They’re real,” Danny said softly.If he was going to be the kid with the crazy parents, he might as well be the crazy kid too.“My parents are going to prove it, and I’m going to help.This is, um, this is going to be a portal to the Ghost Zone, and those are some prototype ecto-weapons, and that’s an ectoplasm refiner, and this stuff,” he gestured towards the large glowing green vat.“This is the most refined ectoplasm anyone’s ever made.” Danny had helped.

“But that’s so cool,” Tucker said.“Why’d you say they made cell phones?”

“What?” Danny asked.

“You’ve got a portal to another dimension in your basement,” Tucker said.“That’s so cool.”

“You think it’s cool?” Danny asked.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Tucker asked.

“Because I’m the kid with the crazy ghost obsessed parents!” Danny exclaimed, accidentally smacking a reel of resistors off a work bench.

“Dude,” Tucker said.“I don’t know about ghosts, but if half this stuff does anything at all that’s pretty cool.”

“I didn’t think you’d want to be friends with me if you knew,” Danny murmured.

“Yeah,” Tucker said.“I know how that is.”

Danny looked up.“What?”

“I mean, it’s not like I’ve ever had anyone want me to come over and play video games before,” Tucker said.

It hadn’t occurred to Danny that no one had really come up to talk to Tucker all the day that they’d spent together.It hadn’t occurred to Danny that someone as great as Tucker wouldn’t have friends.

“Wanna shoot an ecto-blaster?” Danny asked.

“I don’t know what that is, but I know that I definitely do,” Tucker said. 

Danny walked over to the table with the prototype ecto-blasters next to the mini shooting range.He checked the ectoplasm cartridge and prayed his mom wouldn’t notice the level going down.Danny would be dead, but at least he’d be dead with a friend to his name.They shot off a few blasts at the target (“It’s like a plasma rifle!”), a little ghost made out of steel plate, but Danny insisted they stop before they really used too much.There wasn’t any point in tempting fate. 

“So does the portal actually do anything?” Tucker asked.

Danny shook his head.“Not yet,” he said.“They tried to turn it on for the first time today, but it didn’t work.I won’t be allowed to help them until the ectoplasm gets drained and the super capacitors are empty.”

“You help them?” Tucker asked.

“Yeah,” Danny said.“All summer.”

“Show me, show me, show me,” Tucker said.

Danny smiled.Tucker’s enthusiasm for everything was contagious.

“Okay,” Danny said.“But you can’t touch anything.”

Danny wasn’t sure how they got from not touching anything to standing inside of the portal five minutes later, but Danny hadn’t had much control of anything that day.Maybe it was because he’d wanted to go in himself, had wanted to get a good look and figure out what had gone wrong.His eyes roved the internals and he listed off different parts and the theories behind them. 

“I did that panel there,” Danny said.“It regulates the magnets in this section.”

“Dude,” Tucker said.“You are definitely helping me with my computer when I get to middle school.”

Danny kept describing what was inside until he got to the obvious.

Danny gasped.

“What?” Tucker asked.

“I know why it didn’t work,” Danny said.

“You figured it out?” Tucker asked.

“That’s a J7 Switch panel,” Danny said.“It’s supposed to be a K12 fuse conduit, but we ran out of those for a bit and I bet someone figured a J7 would have fit.It’s just switched off.Well, it’s switched off and this section isn’t protected by a fuse, but there it is.”

Danny knew exactly who had done that.How the heck was he supposed to tell his parents about this without letting on that he’d been down there though.He didn’t fancy another lie coiling in his gut.

“Daniel James Fenton!”

Danny was dead.

“Oh crap,” Tucker said.

“Don’t say that like you’re Mommy!” Danny said, spinning around to face Jazzy.

“Get the hell out of there!” Jazzy said.“Just because it isn’t real doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous.”

“It is too real,” Danny said.

“It’s not,” Jazzy said walking forward.“Ghosts aren’t real, Mom and Dad care more about make believe than they do about us, and they let you pretend too, without caring if you get fried by one of their stupid, do nothing, pieces of junk!”

She grabbed his arm and started dragging him out but Danny wrenched himself free.

“It’s not pretend!” Danny shouted.“It’ll work!And Mommy does care! That’s why she wouldn’t let me down here tonight, but I found out what went wrong!I can help, and we’ll make it work, and then everyone will see that ghosts are real!”

Danny felt something click under his palm as it smacked the side of the portal.There was a hum as everything charged up.Jazzy’s eyes went wide, and Tucker took a step closer to Danny.The last thing Danny did before everything went white was to shove them as hard as he could out of the mouth of the portal.


End file.
